Company president as internal auditor

N

Nennat

#1
Hi,

My name is Lennart and I have been using the cove intensely during my internship at a small Dutch contractor and first of, I would like to thank you all for this wonderful forum!

But now I’m stumbling on an issue.
I am redesigning the QMS for a Dutch contractor located in Haarlem, they are using a branch specific certified QMS right now, but the branch organization decided to terminate this project.
This contractor is a small contractor with around 9 carpenters, 3 project managers and 1 financial assistant. The president doubles as one of the project managers.

Now my little issue concerning the selection of internal auditors;
My idea was to let the president and the financial assistant audit, because I can make sure the assistant won’t audit her own work. Next to that, in my opinion it is in the presidents’ best interest to be objective when auditing (and acting like a president and not a project manager), so I thought I could have him auditing as well.

Now a lead auditor who is aiding me in the process of writing the quality manual said this was strictly forbidden. I understand his point of view due to the fact that the president is more like a full time project manager..

I would like to hear your opinion on this topic and what might an alternative.

Cheers!
Lennart
 
Elsmar Forum Sponsor

Stijloor

Staff member
Super Moderator
#2
Hi,

My name is Lennart and I have been using the cove intensely during my internship at a small Dutch contractor and first of, I would like to thank you all for this wonderful forum!

But now I’m stumbling on an issue.
I am redesigning the QMS for a Dutch contractor located in Haarlem, they are using a branch specific certified QMS right now, but the branch organization decided to terminate this project.
This contractor is a small contractor with around 9 carpenters, 3 project managers and 1 financial assistant. The president doubles as one of the project managers.

Now my little issue concerning the selection of internal auditors;
My idea was to let the president and the financial assistant audit, because I can make sure the assistant won’t audit her own work. Next to that, in my opinion it is in the presidents’ best interest to be objective when auditing (and acting like a president and not a project manager), so I thought I could have him auditing as well.

Now a lead auditor who is aiding me in the process of writing the quality manual said this was strictly forbidden. I understand his point of view due to the fact that the president is more like a full time project manager..

I would like to hear your opinion on this topic and what might an alternative.

Cheers!
Lennart
Lennart,

Goede Middag!

ISO 9001:2000 states simply: "Auditors shall not audit their own work."
There are various threads and many posts about this issue. (You may want to search the forums.)
This requirement is in my opinion interpreted way too strictly.
Common sense should prevail.

Bottom line? Do what makes business sense.

Stijloor.
 
J

joshua_sx1

#3
Well, I have an experienced from one of our ISO certified supplier that their CEO is also conducting an internal quality audit. He got an ISO awareness seminar & internal audit training. And he is usually auditing their engineering & purchasing departments…

…and I found no nonconformance about it…
 

ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Staff member
Super Moderator
#4
Hello Lennart, welcome to The Cove.

As has been stated, as long as one is not auditing one's own work, then anyone can be an auditor.

I'm sure I've seen other discussions on this topic here - have you tried a search for "President Auditor" or "CEO auditor"?

I find it encouraging when senior management wants to play an active role.
 
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